DURHAM -- As Canadians celebrate the nation’s birthday on July 1, new federal anti-spam legislation aimed at stemming the tide of unsolicited messages in e-mail inboxes kicks in.

In recent weeks, Durham and Northumberland residents may have noticed they were getting messages from businesses asking for permission to continue sending them e-mails. That’s because the new law requires that businesses obtain consent before sending commercial e-mails. They must also identify who is sending the e-mail and provide a mechanism to unsubscribe from the e-mail list.

The new law also requires consent for a business to install a computer program on a user’s computer.

The penalties for violating the law is a maximum $1 million fine for an individual and $10 million for a business. The new rules will be enforced by the CRTC, the Competition Bureau and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

Officials from both the Whitby Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce say they’ve been communicating with their members to let them know the legislation is kicking in.

“We have offered advice to our members, we sent them to a training session on anti-spam legislation,” said Yolanda Beasley, marketing and communications coordinator for the Whitby chamber. “We also sent them a few e-mails educating them about the legislation.”

In fact, Ms. Beasley said her organization also sent out e-mails asking members to confirm they wanted to continue receiving messages in order to comply with the legislation.

Bob Malcolmson, CEO and general manager of the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, said his organization is ready for the new legislation and warns local businesses to be aware as it will impact them.

“We’ve been working on this for months now; we’ve been sending it out to them, so most people are educated about it or are choosing to ignore it,” he said.

“It’s the new legislation and we’re just going to have to work with it, and anyone who ignores it ignores it at their peril.”

Both Mr. Malcolmson and Ms. Beasley agreed that e-mail pitches are an important mechanism for local businesses to communicate with their clients.

Ms. Beasley said some businesses are wary of the new legislation because of the penalties and are concerned about making sure they adhere to the law.

“A lot of small businesses, they rely on their newsletter lists to generate sales and it’s a free way for them to maintain relationships, to provide information that’s valuable for their clientele and to keep in touch, and to be afraid to contact their clients is kind of a shock for them,” she said.

Registered charities are exempt from the legislation if they’re communicating for fundraising purposes. However, Bob Baker, CEO of the Lakeridge Health Foundation, said his organization will comply with the legislation as a best practice.

“When we start communicating using e-communications more actively we will only be doing it within the legislation,” he said.

Mr. Baker said his organization mainly uses direct mail, phone and face-to-face methods for fundraising and said when it does use e-mail, the goal is not to annoy people.

“We largely like to make warm contacts and pick up the phone. If you’re getting an e-mail from us, you already know us,” he said.

Whether the new legislation will seriously reduce spam is to be seen.

“Most of the spam that comes in is from offshore and this is for Canada,” said Mr. Malcolmson. “The offshore stuff will keep happening.”

For full details on the new rules visit fightingspam.gc.ca.

TIPS FOR BUSINESSES ON COMPLYING WITH NEW ANTI-SPAM LAWS

• You must ask current subscribers to reconfirm

• You must retain proof of subscription confirmation

• Implied consent applies to customer relationships older than two years

• New subscribers must opt in, not be automatically subscribed to a newsletter with the option of opting out

• Every newsletter must have an unsubscribe option

Source: Whitby Chamber of Commerce

Reporter Reka Szekely covers the City of Oshawa for Metroland Media Group’s Durham Region Division. Reka's social media column appears every other week. Contact her on Facebook, Twitter (@rszekely)